HB of Edleen writes:
At Norkem Park Police station, 39 cases or just more than two cases of cellphone theft a day were reported from January 1-19.
Simple maths show that if two cases of cellphone theft a day are reported at each of our three police stations, Norkem Park, Sebenza and Kempton Park, some 2 200 phones from Kempton Park alone end up with a new home and a new owner every year.
Many of these handsets need a very specific code to activate them and if you do not enter the correct digits, you will not be able to make calls or use data until the battery eventually runs out. By that time, the handset will be blacklisted – at least this is what we believe happen.
The cellphone companies assure us that once a stolen cellphone gets blacklisted, it is unusable and practically worthless, at least in South Africa. If this is true, why are thieves still stealing them in large quantities?
Something that is worthless can obviously not attract any buyers. Are the thieves exporting the stolen merchandise? Or are the thieves selling them back to the manufacturers, or even those who blacklisted them?
Just wondering – something does not add up.
